1.The head can be dirty, use a head cleaner to wipe off dirt from the head.
2. The connections to the head could have come off. check on the head connection.
3. The head can be faulty.
4. The preamp or the power amplifier of one channel can be faulty. you need to use a signal check to find and confirm.

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This is down to the head alignment. Once that is corrected the sound will recorded normally and playback normally too. However any tapes recorded during the fault will not play right.

The head alignment can be corrected, using two adjusting screws located either side of the head. To get at them the door cover has to be removed. To align you play a pre-recorded good quality tape. You adjust the screws till the sound is bright and clear and only the sound recorded on that side of the tape can be heard. Best done with headphones. If you can use a commercial music tape. If you use the decks own recordings it might not be right.
If there is any damage to the head mounting you will not be able to get the alignment right.
PS use the right screwdriver for the head screws. These are very small and easily wear away. If you wear the screw head away you might have a job getting a new small screw that will fit.

1) Clean the heads real well using denature alcohol. If this does not fix it then try spraying the record play switches with Deoxit contact cleaner. After that it could be the well known Akai garbage transistors that a Technician will need to change.

Red for Right channel (play). White for Left Channel (play). Yellow for right (Record) Black left (record). The leads should run from tape (out) play to amp in play. Same for the left channel.
Record from tape (in) to Amp (out).

Yes and no. If you swap the channel leads over the fault should go to the other channel. Still the same, then not the Cassette deck. There are several causes to one channel going. First the lead to the tape head is off or the head has gone!! Secondly a switch either on the front of the machine or the inside (when it switches to record) is faulty. Lastly an electronic fault. The good thing is that you have one good channel to play with. So as they are both the same any readings should be the same for both channels. The electronics will also buzz when touched with an insulated tool. So if it buzzers in one place in one channel it should do the same in the other in the same place.

Well, not being there to try some diagnostics, there can be a number of reason that the tape plays backwards at times. One reason is that the tapes are 4 channel discrete tape requiring a 4 track 4 channel deck- this would mean track 2,4 are recorded in the forward direction. A Stereo (2 channel 4 track deck) play tracks 2,4 in the opposite direction. That is why you turn the tape over on some decks. Other possibilities could be tape path skew, that reverse relay is NOT changing the head that "listens: to the tape and that is just the start of what it could be. When a new person starts to use a deck of such age- it can be correct to assume that the deck is not working in some respect. A Tape deck Technician such as myself would know how to determine if the deck was working correct or not and know and have parts to correct it. I worked in the Factory Service in Chicago for Teac and actually have one coming into my shop in the near future. After 40 years of working on these I am still at it. I am sorry there may not be an easy answer to this.

The Bias control is used during recording. If you turn down the bias,
you will get more highs, but the distortion will increase, and then
start to increase dramatically if you back off the bias more.

As far as playing tapes from different decks goes.......

1..Does the tape that you recorded on your deck sound OK on your deck ?
2..Does the tape that you recorded on your deck sound OK on other decks ?

If 1 and 2 are true, then your deck is OK.

If the tapes recorded on a specific deck sound bar on yours, but 1 and 2 are true, then the other deck is faulty.

When a deck leaves the factory, the head is aligned to a " standard "
tape. By standard tape I mean a very special tape recorded in such a
way, that a tech can tell if the head is out of align and "tweek " the
physical alignment of the tape head..

All decks are aligned just a little differently, but fairly close to each other.

first do the mechanicals....is the head of your deck spotlessly clean ?.
Use 99% pure isopropanol alcohol and a cotton swab. Never use anything
metal to clean the tape head. If you scratch the head, its toast.

If your deck is clean, plays its own recordings well, and those
recordings play well on other decks, then your deck is not the problem.

With the deck in play mode put your finger on the imput of the channel that is low. If it buzzers the same as the other then you may have a faulty head. If it does not there is something wrong in the amp stages of the deck. You can also reverse the leads from the head and if the sound goes down on the other channel it is the head. Try doing it where the leads join with the PC Board, it will be less messing than at the head itself.

Oxide deposits on heads can restrict audio transfer to tape. You may need to do a deep cleaning of record head. Depending on how much deposits are on heads may need no more than alchohol and Q-tip. Be sure to clean erase head and drive roller. Afterwards, try recording, then use headphones in jack on recorder to check for recording on both channels. If this works, problem is not in rest of equipment set up. If you still need help, email me

The most common problem is a dirty record<>play switch inside the unit. Try this: Using a blank tape, press and release record/play buttons several times. This can clean the switch a bit. Then play a tape. If it fixes the problem, then you need to take the unit apart and use a plastic safe spray cleaner on the switch (Check at Radio Shack, their tuner cleaner Catalog #: 64-4315 will work fine). Spray it into the switch and then work the switch with the buttons several times.